"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> As kids, my brothers and our friends were always out riding our bikes or
> roller skating. Running around playing tag, hide and seek or other
> outdoor games. As you say, we were active from the time we got up until
> time to come inside at dusk. In many of the places I lived we *walked* to
> and from school.
>
> Something like a piece of candy or a scoop of ice cream was a treat, not a
> given. Kids need to get off their butts, go outside and learn to play
> again. It was fun!

We walked to school. I think my elementary school had a bus. Not sure
where it went. There were two at my Jr. High. And I think two at my high
school. In those days if you lived within 2 miles of the school, you had to
walk. Now it is something like 2 blocks.

We did play outside in the winter for perhaps part of a day or two if there
was snow. We hated it but my mom always sent us out in it. We did also
some in the summer but often our weather here doesn't bode well for being
outdoors. But we were active.

I danced, played sports, took swimming lessons. My brother did the swimming
and karate or something like that for a few years. We also put on a lot of
shows in our garage. Dancing, singing and little comedy stints. We were
much more creative in those days because we had to be. Our toys didn't
really do much of anything.

I went to a birthday party for one of the girls at the dance studio. My
daughter gave her a cute stuffed animal. She looked it over and over and
said to her mom, "What does it do?" And then she seemed disappointed that
it didn't actually do anything. At least we didn't get her a Pillow Pet.
That was the year those came out. About 80% of what she got were those with
the majority of them being the lady bug. We were sorely tempted to get the
lady bug too!